Vicente Fox

President of Mexico (PAN)  
(2000-2006)
Chief Exec. of  Coca-Cola Mex. 
(1975-1979)


Vicente Fox (Vicente Fox Quesada) was born on July 2, 1942 in Mexico City, Mexico, and was the second of nine children. He spent his early life on a family ranch in Guanajuato where he began to experience firsthand the problems of poverty in Mexico and the value of everyday people. He later moved to Mexico City to attend the Ibero-American University where he recieved his Bachelor's degree in business administration in 1964. Fox also attended Harvard Business School in 1974 where he revieced a diploma in Top Management Skills. In 1964, Fox joined Coca-Cola as a route supervisor and quickly climbed the ranks to eventually become the supervisor and head of Coca-Cola operations in all of Latin America. During his time at Coca-Cola while riding the delivery trucks, he was exposed to some of the most isolated parts of Mexico and subsequently everyday people in situations of poverty and economic troubles. This experience helped to shape his ideals and inspired him to participate in politics.

Fox began his political career during the struggling Mexican economy in 1980's when he joined the Partido Acción Nacional (National Action Party, or PAN), one of three main political parties in Mexico. This party's ideology rejects permanent adherence to left- or right-wing politics and instead, adapts and adheres to policies based on the problems faced by the country at any given moment. After being elected to the National Chamber of Deputies in 1988, and as Governor of Guanajuato from 1995 to 1999 Fox ran in the 2000 presidential election. He won the elections and began his term, marking the end of 71 uninterrupted years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

During his early presidency, Fox focused his efforts on improving trade relations with the United States and reducing crime, unrest, and drug trafficking in his own country, as well as introducing constitutional ammendments to grant more rights to Mexico's indigenous peoples. However, many Mexican states rejected these measures, and a number of Fox's economic policies also met tough resistence. Despite significant progress early on, the United States became skeptical of Fox's close political allignment, and although his personal popularity remained high, people became disillusioned by the slow and ineffective reform taking place and Fox left office in 2006.